


a game of telephone

by sky_of_starflowers



Category: Stargate - All Media Types, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Coda, Episode: s03e18 Shades of Grey, Gen, because there is no way that they just sat back and were like "oh okay this is our life now", hey it's another one of my favorite fandoms that i've never written for, no capitalization, takes place right after daniel leaves jack's house, the team's smarter than canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:15:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25175215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_of_starflowers/pseuds/sky_of_starflowers
Summary: the rest of sg1 talks about jack's strange behavior and tries to come up with an answer for it.-takes place right after daniel leaves jack's house because i refuse to believe that they didn't try to figure out what was happening
Relationships: Samantha "Sam" Carter & Daniel Jackson & Jack O'Neill & Teal'c, Samantha "Sam" Carter & Daniel Jackson & Teal'c
Kudos: 10





	a game of telephone

**Author's Note:**

> i actually started this at the end of may during my _stargate sg1_ rewatch, and the line ""it's like a bad game of telephone," daniel says" would not leave my head.
> 
> also i keep writing for mostly dead fandoms and i don't know why

“that’s it, he’s lost his mind,” daniel says when he opens the door to his apartment, startling sam and teal’c where they sit across from each other on his couches.

sam jumps to her feet, sliding her hands into her back pockets. “really? what’d he say?”

daniel blows out a breath, throwing his hands in the air. “what-what did he say? well, a lot of bullshit in my opinion, but it’s not like we hadn’t heard it before!” sam gives him a look of “well?” and daniel sighs, dropping his hands back down. “he said a lot more of what he said at the debriefing, about how we should be taking technology to defend ourselves instead of asking for it, and that he’d felt that way about this stuff the entire time he’s been with the program.”

sam sits back down to the couch while teal’c looks down at daniel’s coffee table again, doing that jaw-clench thing he does when he’s thinking. “this is most unlike o’neill,” he says as daniel drops to the couch beside sam.

she scoffs, running a hand through her hair. “no kidding. you heard what he said when i told him that to his face though.” daniel turns to her with a curious look, and sam rolls her eyes. “he said that he _was_ acting like himself and that he hadn’t been acting like himself since he met me.”

daniel rolls his eyes as well. “oh please,” he says, dropping his head to rest on the top of the couch. the three of them sit there in silence for a few moments before daniel goes, “so what do you think this is really about?”

sam sighs, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her legs. “well, general hammond said something about the sgc being accused of stealing alien artifacts recently,” she says, and daniel picks his head up.

“o’neill also said something about the pentagon rejecting the backup plan,” teal’c adds.

daniel raises his hand at that. “uh, found out what that was supposedly about. jack and hammond were apparently asking for the resources to start an off world base,” he says when sam and teal’c turn to look at him. “jack was going to be in command, but the pentagon pulled the plug on it. now as to whether that’s true or not, i don’t know.”

sam shakes her head. “i don’t know, daniel, it doesn’t fit with what colonel o’neill was saying about taking alien artifacts. if he was angry about not being about to command a second sgc off world, why would he steal technology from the tollan?”

“i don’t know!” daniel throws his hands up again, dropping them into his lap. “nothing he’s done recently makes any sense, and this is just the peak of that! he’s-he’s been moody and irritated and completely unwilling to listen to anything that any of us have to say!” he sighs, leaning his head back again. “i just wish he’d told me the truth at his house.”

“wait,” same says, raising her hand like she’s stopping him mid-thought. teal’c tilts his head at her but daniel doesn’t bother to open his eyes. “what if that’s why he couldn’t tell the truth?”

teal’c catches on before daniel does. “you believe that o’neill was being spied on inside his own home?” _that_ makes daniel open his eyes and pick up his head, turning to look at sam.

sam shrugs. “it’s possible. it’s not unlikely that n.i.d. or another interested group has bugged his house, especially if they’re looking to recruit him when he inevitably quits.”

“retires again,” daniel says wryly, but he doesn’t shoot down sam’s suggestion. he gets up, suddenly restless again, and goes to stand by the window. “it’s like a bad game of telephone,” he says, staring out the window.

sam and teal’c turn to look at him, confused. “what?” sam asks, trying to follow daniel’s train of thought.

daniel starts a little, turning back to them. “oh! the children’s game where you whisper a phrase or a word into someone’s ear and then they pass it down the line until it gets to the end. usually, the phrase or word is so distorted by the time it reaches the last person that everyone laughs when they hear the end result,” he explains, more for teal’c’s benefit than sam’s, but trying to make his analogy clearer for her too. “it’s like jack’s trying to tell us something by doing this and we just can’t figure it out.”

it’s the closest any of them have come to any sort of resolution and daniel hates it. he can tell that it’s digging at sam and teal’c too, but it’s under his skin. for three years, daniel’s been trying to learn the enigma that is jack o’neill and become his friend, but it’s times like these that daniel wonders if it’s really worth the struggle.

“he can’t be doing this alone,” sam says while daniel’s stewing in his hurt. “there has to be some bigger picture here that we’re not seeing.”

teal’c doesn’t look up from the coffee table, but he sounds remarkably steady. “i believe that the truth lies in what you said earlier, major carter.” sam and daniel turn to look at him, and teal’c looks up. “the sgc has recently been accused of stealing alien artifacts. general hammond said that both the asgard and the nox have accused the sgc of theft.”

daniel sighs, slumping against the window. “and who do the asgard trust the most at the sgc?”

“colonel o’neill,” sam says, following daniel’s lead and slumping back into the couch. she scoffs after a second, shaking her head. “they never make it easy for us, do they?”

“there is a chance that o’neill was instructed to leave us out of this plan deliberately,” teal’c offers. “i do not believe that he would wish to be parted from us so soon after his return.”

something in teal’c’s words obviously gets to daniel because he comes back and sits next to sam again. “i just hope that this is over soon. i’m not sure i can take much more of him acting like an ass.”

sam laughs at that. “acting?”

“point,” daniel says with a smile. even teal’c smiles a little at that.

“you’re right though,” sam says after another short stretch of silence. “i, for one, will be glad when everything’s back to normal. or as normal as things get for us,” she adds. teal’c nods, apparently happy that they’ve come to an agreement even if that agreement is that they can’t do anything.

daniel claps his hands together. “so, dinner?”

“i’m starving,” sam replies, and the two of them stand from their couch.

“i am also hungry,” teal’c says, standing, and the three of them just look at each other for a moment, soaking in just how lucky they are to have each other.


End file.
